Most Beautiful City Halls In North America
Most Beautiful North American City Halls This thread is dedicated to the posting of City Halls, which forumers feel are among the most attractive in the United States, Canada, and Mexico I will start by posting two of my favorites. City Hall, Salt Lake City - The building was originally constructed by free masons between 1891 and 1894. From 1973 to 1989 the building was exhaustively renovated and repaired with an eye toward historical accuracy. This was done in concert with a seismic upgrade called base isolation that placed the sandstone structure on a foundation of giant steel and rubber shock absorbers, to better protect it from earthquake damage. http://static.thousandwonders.net/Sa...ginal.1577.jpg http://static.thousandwonders.net http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/...38b1f2.jpg?v=0 bridgepix http://www.globosapiens.net/data/gal...y--id=5070.jpg visitsaltlake.com Sunrise, City Hall as seen from rotunda of Matheson Courthouse http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2151/...c8df613a_b.jpg Todd Keith City Hall, San Francisco https://static1.squarespace.com/stat...ll+%282%29.jpg https://static1.squarespace.com https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chor..._20Hall.0.jpeg https://cdn.vox-cdn.com . |
Milwaukee City Hall is my favorite, I believe its the only City Hall (perhaps even seat of government) to hold the title as World's Tallest Building (1895-1899).
http://www.rroofers.com/images/proje...eecityhall.jpg rroofers.com http://www.planet99.com/pix/5590_1.jpg Inside: http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif Martin Saunders Flickr It recently underwent a complete restoration including removing and repairing damaged masonry, re-tiling the roof, and completely replacing the copper on the bell tower. I find this renovation extremely fascinating because the building now looks brand new, its like going back in time and seeing the building as it first looked as a WTB. During the renovation, you can see the new copper on the top of the bell tower. The whole building has been covered in scaffolding for nearly two years: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2140/...g?v=1211835262 sarah.szurpicki flickr |
how about Philadelphia's it is really nice looking
sorry no picture |
boston city hall
kallmann mckinnell + wood absolutely wonderful public space http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._City_Hall.JPG wiki |
breaking the rules, but this is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, so...
säynätsalo town hall / alvar alto http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...oTownHall4.jpg wiki |
This is the city hall in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Care of Everyspoon on flickr.com
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1111/...a6c35650_o.jpg |
MONTRÉAL City Hall/Hôtel de Ville build in 1872 restored in 1922 after fire
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/4...db8ff1.jpg?v=0 Montreal City Hall Before the Fire http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...C3%A9al%29.jpg |
Tulsa City Hall
The building on the left. Affectionately called the Borg Cube "the mayor being the Borg Queen", also called the Ant Farm since you can see inside it especially at night. my pic from flickr http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/8...allbymejj9.jpg Street level by dsjeffries/flickr http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5...effriesvk5.jpg Night view, City hall is on Right. also by dsjeffries. http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7...fries2avv4.jpg |
Some of those were great!
Also, it's becoming clear that a good list for forced demolition would be whatever Adrian likes. Good god those are ugly. Also the Boston City Hall and civic complex are often condisdered a huge mistake and blight for Boston. |
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Is the Asheville hall really in a big field like that?
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The San Francisco, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Philly city halls are by far the best ones I know about in NA. The Montreal city hall is a nice building but doesn't hold shit compared to the great ones. The TO city hall is just plain ugly.
BUffalo city hall http://www.hanifworld.com/Buffalo/22...New%20York.JPG from haniworld.com |
^^^ I actually quite like the TO city hall, I just wish it were in better condition, it always makes me sad to see nice modernist buildings in poor shape.
Yeah, the Boston city hall is decent looking from a purely architectural standpoint, but as far as urban planning goes, its a complete POS. |
I do not agree with you Rico : Toronto's City Hall is not that bas. It certainly doesn't stand comparison with other monumental city hall but is interesting and reflects the time it was built. It symbolised the modernity of Toronto in the 1960's.
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Toronto's City Hall looks like it would be a good stand-in for Starfleet Academy - it just has that "what will the future look like?" vibe.
Anyway, I'll cast my votes for Buffalo, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York (gotta be a bit of a booster). |
while i certainly wouldn't say that chicago's city hall is in the same league as say san fran's or philly's in the beauty department, it's still pretty sweet from a "massively over-scaled and decidedly inhuman monument to governmental authority" perspective. this beast is just massive, taking up a full city block in the heart of downtown.
http://suites.files.wordpress.com/20...-city-hall.gif source: http://suites.files.wordpress.com/20...-city-hall.gif and here's the annex structure, the daley center, built in the 60s after the chicago/cook county bureaucracy outgrew the original building. http://www.som.com/resources/categor...1_21605883.jpg source: http://www.som.com/resources/categor...1_21605883.jpg i find the daley center to be perhaps the most beautiful modernist skyscraper anywhere in the world, but i understand i have unusual tatses, so don't bother telling me that i'm stupid for having mad love for "just another stupid old boring black box". the daley center is simply magical to me. |
Fort Worth's previous city hall, which is now the Public Safety & Courts Building, is a nifty little Moderne/Deco building which I quite like.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/...009f06c2_o.jpg Unfortunately, the current city hall is a horrific piece of brutalist garbage that is a blight on the area of downtown where it resides. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/...8975aabf_o.jpg Fortunately, the city is in the process of coming up with a new City Hall plan. Ideally I'd like to see the current city hall demolished and something better built in its place, but even just removing the current building from active City Hall use would be good. |
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But I agree - this and Seagram are probably the two best black boxes anywhere. |
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By contrast, traditional designs, if decently-built, often look better as they age. |
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